The Two Angels Story
by Ginger-Bizkit
Summary: Marcel is a new angel that has many things to learn. He has one important thing to learn: Things Aren't Always As They Seem. Idea from an email.
1. Journey's Beginning

_I first heard of this story through a chain email that my mammy passed on to me. I loved it so much that I tampered with it and this was the result - I don't know who wrote the orriginal story and, if you do read this, don't take me to court! XD _

_**The Story of The Two Angels**_

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The golden globe of the sun was setting low over the towering peeks of the vast mountains, silhouetting the large hulking masses of rocks starkly against the amber sky, like huge, crouching predators scanning the land bellow hungrily, ready to pounce on any unsuspecting victim bellow in the valley. The first settlers in these parts of the land had cleverly carved steep stone steps into the cliff face on the northern side of the mountains, which were now wearing away and crumbling slightly with age. But it was one of the only safe ways by which to reach the settlements in the valley far bellow from the mountains, though travellers avoided the stairs if they could help it.

Suddenly a figure rounded the corner of the uneven, dirt pathway from behind a great rock, his steps decisive, as though this person knew the route this path led to the northern cliff face and steps very well. The newcomer was a man, with broad shoulders and very little neck. His grey hair was cut short across his head, not hiding the large wrinkles and thought lines that wriggled playfully across the person's very weathered face. He wore boots of russet doeskin, rough leggings, and a loose tunic. A dark green travelling cloak was wrapped closely about his body, bulging at the back where the man's rucksack rested.

It was not, however, the man's clothes or appearance that first caught a person's attention: it was the newcomer's eyes. The person's eyes were a shocking green colour that seemed very deep. He had an intelligent gaze, and his eyes seemed to keep locked away many great secrets not known by any human. These eyes did not seem like human eyes, for they were too intense and mysterious, seeming to reveal that this man was older than he was first assumed to be. But then he wasn't human at all. Not really, this was just a guise.

The newcomer was an angel.

High above the narrow opening between two cliffs, standing a little way back from the edge, the angel stood, his eyes fixed onto the valley bellow him. To his eyes, the small hamlet was not just a dark black-brown patch in the middle of a vast green landscape, raised next to a small blue line that wound its way from one end of the valley to the other. A great river, the water supply to the hamlet. To the angel's eyes, he could see all the houses individually, hear the conversations and thoughts of the people within, and even sense the dreams of the sleeping.

The angel turned away from the valley, a small smile spreading across his weathered face. He scanned the road he'd just come from, and immediately picked up on the sounds of complacent mutterings following in his footsteps. The angel's smile widened, the lines on his face growing deeper, making him look merry and full of joyous life.

"Come, come, Marcel!" the angel called brightly. "Stop dawdling back there. Keep up!"

"Yes, yes; I'm here, I'm here," came the muttered reply, then a younger angel rounded the corner of the mountain, shoulders hunched and head drooping. The younger angel stopped before the older angel, threw back his head so his long black hair was out of his eyes, and then scowled sourly at his companion. "Happy now?"

"Oh, tremendously!" the older angel replied, clapping his hands together. "Dear me, Marcel, you look terrible!"

The angel, Marcel, shook his head. "Is that very surprising? We've been walking for two days non-stop, and we haven't even stopped for a break. We _need_ sleep! We'll never get through this journey if we don't sleep, even if we _are _angelic beings!"

"Well then, Marcel, you'll be glad to hear I've spotted a mansion where we might rest for the night," the older angel beamed, nodding. "There. See? We're nearing the end of our journey!"

"A mansion?" Marcel looked uneasy at the idea of sleeping in a mansion. "Where is this mansion?" asked Marcel. Like his fellow angel, his eyes were not human: dark as an abyss, but equally as deep and mysterious. "Will we reach it before the night falls? I don't know about you, but I'm sure that I can feel a storm-brewing overhead, and we don't want to be caught out in that. Do we? I mean, we've been walking for too long and our energy is draining, and that mountainous path sure did lead us a merry dance."

The older angel kept on smiling. "The mansion is down in the valley."

"What?" cried Marcel, alarmed. "But…but how on earth are we supposed to get down there from here?"

"Oh ye of little faith," the older angel sighed. "We'll do as normal humans get there: we'll use the stairs."

Marcel opened his mouth to protest, and then shut it again. "All right," he sighed. "If this is a lesson, then I suppose I shall have to go through all trails." He pulled his own travelling cloak closer about his shoulders. "Let's get going then."

The older angel smiled, clapping his hands. "Brilliant! Wonderful! But Marcel?" His look suddenly became serious, stern, making the younger angel freeze in his tracks. "Just believe me when I tell you that things aren't always as they seem**."**

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Please R&R!! XD


	2. Journey's End

_**The Story of The Two Angels**_

**_Part Two_**

After two more hours of walking, the sun had truly set. The silvery light of the moon and winking sparkles of the stars guided the two travelling angels to the home of a wealth family in the valley. They stopped to see if they could spend the night.

The mansion and surrounding lands belonged to a greedy, selfish Thane, who literally ruled the small fishing hamlet beyond his home by the river. The Thane was a tall, warrior of a man, who was rude and obnoxious to everyone about him, even his own children. With mocking smiles, the Thane and his henchmen invited the two travellers in, and then turned on them. They became suddenly rude, mocking young Marcel and trying to use him as a source of entertainment by daring the angel to fight with a chained bear the Thane was saving for baiting. After Marcel had refused over and over, the Thane and his men became bored with the two travellers, and refused to let the angels have any food or stay in the mansion's guest room. Instead the angels were given a small space in the cold cellar bellow the great hall.  
As they made their beds on the cold, hard flagstone floor of the cellar, Marcel was fuming, tears falling from his eyes.

"Fight a bear!" he cursed. "Me, an angel, fight a bear and _kill _it! What sort of people _do_ that to God's creation?"

"Marcel," soothed the older angel. "I know it's cruel, but you must forget this for the time being. This is _not _why we're here."

"Can't we… There must be a way…" Marcel threw himself down onto his blanket, shaking his head desperately with frustration.

The older angel lay down calmly on his own blanket, folding his hands behind his head, staring up at the ceiling. "Pray. If you must do anything, then pray."

The older angel let his eyes wonder lazily about the cold cellar, ignoring the trivial collection of beer that the Thane stored down there. It was then that the older angel saw a hole in the wall, and he scrambled up to his feet.

"Marcel!" he hissed, making his miserable young companion look up. "Do you see this hole here?"

Marcel nodded dolefully. "Yes. Now I do. I didn't notice it before. Why?"

The older angel suddenly smiled – the first real time since he'd entered the Thane's house – the lines on his face growing deeper, making him look merry and full of joyous life.  
But his only reply was: "Things aren't always what they seem."

A cold chill hung low in the air, hanging a thick, grey, dense mass high up above the gorge. Early that morning, as the sun had begun to rise from sleep, the grey-blue storm clouds had hidden her warm, bright smile from the land in a selfish stance, hoping to keep the previous night, and the savage storm that had accompanied it, with them for as long as possible. By late evening, the promise of yet more rain still hung heavy in the air, so the moon would soon be fighting against another of the storm clouds of the previous nights storm's brethren.

"Look!" the older angel ordered, and suddenly the hole in the wall was repaired.  
Marcel frowned. "What did you do that for?"

The angels had departed quickly from the Thanes house after a restless night's sleep; Marcel so fast that the older angel had to run to keep up with him. They had walked all through the day, and as night began to draw in once more, the pair came to rest at the house of a very poor, but very hospitable farmer and his poorly wife.

It was a stark contradiction to the Thane and his hospitality. After sharing what little food they had, the couple insisted the angels sleep in their bed where they could have a good night's rest.

Marcel had the deepest sleep he'd had in many weeks. He was nearing the end of his lesson, his journey; he could feel it.

When the sun came up the next morning, the angels were awoken by the sounds of crying. Marcel rushed outside before the older angel could drag himself out of bed, only to find the farmer and his wife in tears in front of the house. To his horror, Marcel saw that the couple's only cow, whose milk had been their sole income, lay dead in the field beyond.  
With that the younger angel turned and stormed back into the small farmhouse to confront his companion, who was seating himself at the table in the living room, his face serious, staring out past the door towards the field.

Marcel was shaking with rage, infuriated at what had happened.

"How could you have let this happen?" the angel stormed. He pointed back towards the farmer and his wife. "That Thane we first stayed with had _everything_, yet you helped him by fixing his wall!" he accused him. "But this second family had little but was willing to share everything with us, and you let the cow _die_! How could you _do _that? I don't understand!"

"Things aren't always what they seem," the older angel replied. "That's what I told you to remember, Marcel. You see, when we stayed in the cellar of the mansion, I noticed there was gold stored in that hole in the cellar wall. Since the owner was so obsessed with greed and unwilling to share his good fortune, I sealed the wall so he wouldn't find it.

"Then last night as we slept in the farmers bed, I woke to find that the angel of death had come for the farmer's poorly wife. I gave him the cow instead." The older angel looked Marcel dead in the eye, then smiled, the lines on his face growing deeper, making him look merry and full of joyous life. "Remember, Marcel. _This _is your lesson. _This _is why I brought you here, to show you that things aren't always what they seem."

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**Please R&R! Thank you!**


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